Neck Lump

Bluestar985

Bluestar985

New Member
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, Male, age unknown (I believe he is 10 months old), has been in my care for six months.
  • Handling - I handle him at least 2 times a week. Sometimes more. He likes to come out and climb to the tippy top of my room and then go back into his cage after an hour or more.
  • Feeding - I feed him mainly dubia roaches. I give him a few superworms once in a while, and once a month, I buy silkworms to mix in with his diet. I usually give him 5 roaches every other day. I gutload them with a frozen cube mix I make myself, it's a mixture of sweet potato, green pepper, bug grub, bee pollen, mustard greens, collard greens, apple, and cucumber.
  • Supplements - Pangea Calcium without D3 each time I feed him. Zoo Med's Reptivite calcium with D3 every 1st and 15th of the month.
  • Watering - My chameleon drinks, I use the Mist King. Around 4-5 minutes each morning and night, and 2 minutes during the middle of the day.
  • Fecal Description - His droppings look normal. He has not been tested for parasites.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Screen. 24"x24"x48”
  • Lighting - 24" Pangea T5 HO UVB Fixture. 22” Zoo Med T5 HO UVB 5.0 Bulb. Zoo Med Deep Dome Heat Bulb Fixture. 50W Pangea Halogen Heat Bulb. They all turn on at 11:30 am and off at 11:30 pm.
  • Temperature - Basking spot is 90% F. Top of the cage is around 85% F. Bottom is 76% F.
  • Humidity - Humidity levels naturally are around 40-45. I use a fogger on high to try and keep the humidity up during the night, as well as put on shower curtains around the enclosure to keep the humidity.
  • Plants - I use a pothos, a huge piece lily, and Anthurium plants.
  • Placement - The cage is in my room. I'm nearby but we coexist next to each other and he has been completely fine with it.

Current Problem - He has a huge flab under his neck just hanging down. It's been there for a while now. I also think he is a bit skinnier than he should be. He wasn't eating much but he's been starting to eat like he used to again.
 

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You have to see a vet for sure. Does anyone have the link to suggested vets? Can you show a picture of his full cage? Did you get him from a big chain pet store, like Petco?

It could be an abscess, cyst or tumor... Edema is usually more fluid like. @kinyonga ?

Some questions to consider telling the vet... When did you first notice the bump? Approximate date? Did it start small and get bigger? Does the size change? Are you able to feel it? Does it seem squishy or hard?
 
ehdee6 said:
You have to see a vet for sure. Does anyone have the link to suggested vets? Can you show a picture of his full cage? Did you get him from a big chain pet store, like Petco?

It could be an abscess, cyst or tumor... Edema is usually more fluid like. @kinyonga ?

Some questions to consider telling the vet... When did you first notice the bump? Approximate date? Did it start small and get bigger? Does the size change? Are you able to feel it? Does it seem squishy or hard?
Click to expand...
The thing that is confusing to me is that it just feels like extra skin. I can almost fully push it down. There feels like something might be there, but most of it is a whole bunch of extra skin. Just recently, it feels like something might be growing inside it, though. I want to press down on it more and get a good feel, but I don't want to hurt him if it is something. I'm def taking him to the vet. Just wanted to see if anyone else could help give me information.
 
He looks healthy and your husbandry seems ok otherwise.

@Beman ? Trying to tag forum folks who are knowledgeable in vaileds and their oddities. 🙂💕
 
Looks like it might be edema. I’m not a vet though and cannot tell you for sure what’s causing it. It’s usually from diet imbalances though.

You said you gut load/feed roaches with a mixture of sweet potato, green pepper, bug grub, bee pollen, mustard greens, collard greens, apple, and cucumber….I don’t know if the roaches and their diet could be part of the problem or not…but it might be worth looking into. There are other issues that can cause edema too. The vet visit…as long as it’s an exotics vet…is a good idea.

How heavily do you use the bee pollen and the bug grub in the roaches food?
 
Last edited:
My bet is on over supplementation, but it could be anything. Edema is from fluid leaking into tissue, in chameleons it tends to be the ‘gular’. This can be caused by so many things it’s impossible to say without bloodwork. As @JacksJill mentioned, I’d cut way back on supplements(this includes gutload), see if it changes after a couple weeks, and if not get some bloodwork. I would feed some hydrating foods like hornworms and silkworms and maybe take it light on the roaches for a little bit to see if that changes anything. People may think extra fluid= too much hydration, but the problem is that fluid is in the wrong place and the body can still get dehydrated. Of course there are so many variables so again, it’s impossible to give you a solid answer.
 
Beman said:
Looks like a pretty severe case of edema. I would like to know the answers to what @kinyonga asked above as well. Please post links for the bug grub and bee pollen you use. How much are you adding to your gutload batch of these? Also can you post pics of the supplements you use so I can double check them?
Click to expand...
https://a.co/d/bwjhrdx and https://www.thebiodude.com/products...hunJZ-b8P2RV9Mr9oEDjEtSy4TkgwCCCHVAuCwwmlt3h8
I add 2 tea spoons of the pollen and just a handful of the bug grub
 
I haven't seen exactly this combination be a problem before but I have seen a standard supplement schedule in combination with a fortified gut load lead to gular edema. Bee pollen is an additional form of supplement. It can vary widely in it's composition. I use it but very sparingly. At this point for you I would eliminate it just to be safe and see if you get improvement.

Adding soft bodied worms, horn and/or silk, to the diet as mentioned by @jamest0o0 could help flush out his system.
 
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